Indiana
New tool shows where Indiana students are struggling most with literacy – Inside INdiana Business
As debate heats up among Indiana policymakers over how to address Indiana’s literacy “crisis,” a new statewide dashboard gives a more detailed look at where additional reading supports are needed most.
The Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) on Tuesday released its newly-developed data visualization tool, which allows the public to view IREAD and literacy data at both the state and school levels.
State education officials said the new tool will help teachers, parents and policymakers as they undertake new literacy initiatives.
Specific data in the dashboard includes the number of students who:
- Are able to read by the end of third grade
- Aren’t able to read by the end of third grade
- Advanced to fourth grade without foundational reading skills
- Earned a “good cause exemption” (GCE), which allow students to move onto fourth grade in certain circumstances — even though they have not passed the IREAD exam
- Are proficient in math (passed ILEARN Math in third grade), but are not proficient in reading (did not pass IREAD-3)
The new tool also provides a longitudinal heat map of Indiana that shows — by corporation and individual schools — the percentage of students advancing to fourth grade who are unable to read at grade level.
“In the history of our state, we have never had this level of partnership and support for advancing literacy,” said Indiana Secretary of Education Katie Jenner in a statement. “This historic collaboration implores us all to seize the moment and determine key solutions in order to urgently move the needle for students.”
Although data in the dashboard is not new, the statistics double down on Indiana’s struggling literacy landscape.
Hoosier literacy rates have been declining for a decade, well before the pandemic. Since 2012, the number of students who are not able to read at the end of third grade has more than doubled.
According to data from the Indiana Department of Education, in 2023, one in five Hoosier third graders lacked foundational reading skills. But as reading scores have decreased, retention rates have also decreased, meaning thousands of students who were unable to read still advanced to fourth grade, according to IDOE officials.
Test data showed 13,840 third-graders did not pass I-READ-3. Of those, 5,503 received an exemption and 8,337 did not. Of those without an exemption, 95% moved onto 3rd grade while only 412 were retained.
Currently, exemptions are available to students in special education, certain English language learners and students who have already been retained twice or more.
IDOE’s new data visualization tool indicates that schools in and around Indianapolis, Gary, South Bend and Seymour had some of the highest rates of third graders being promoted to fourth grade without IREAD mastery. Schools in those areas additionally recorded some of the lowest overall IREAD pass rates.
Of the students who did not pass IREAD-3 in 2023:
- Approximately 72% were eligible for free or reduced-price lunch
- Approximately 45% were in special education (67% received an exemption)
- Approximately 43% were white
- Approximately 25% were Hispanic
- Approximately 24% were Black
- Approximately 20% were English learners (66% received an exemption)
- Approximately 56% were male and 44% were female
Additional dashboard data on IREAD and retention shows that in 2023:
- 3.1% of students who were eligible for free or reduced-price lunch were retained out of the 9,978 students eligible who did not pass
- 1% of students in special education were retained out of the 6,273 students in special education who did not pass
- 3.1% of white students were retained out of the 5,921 white students who did not pass
- 1.8% of Hispanic students were retained out of the 3,405 Hispanic students who did not pass
- 3.9% of Black students were retained out of the 3,311 Black students who did not pass
- 1% of English learners were retained out of the 2,819 English learner students who did not pass
- 2.6% of male students (were retained out of the 7,735 male students who did not pass, and 3.4% of female students were retained out of the 6,120 female students who did not pass
Jenner and Gov. Eric Holcomb said their goal is that 95% of students in third grade can read proficiently by 2027.
The governor’s 2024 agenda targets earlier access to IREAD testing and ensuring Hoosier students are mastering foundational literacy skills. His reading plan — similar to what has been proposed by Republican legislative leaders — could result in holding thousands more third-graders back a year in school.
The Indiana Capital Chronicle is an independent, not-for-profit news organization that covers state government, policy and elections.
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INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The IHSAA baseball state tournament has reached the semi-state round, with the games taking place on Saturday.
Here are the matchups in the semi-state round in each class:
Class 4A
North (Griffith, at Gary Steel Yard)
Game 1 (10:30 a.m. CT): Zionsville vs. Lake Central
Game 2 (12:30 p.m. CT): No. 7 Penn vs. Fort Wayne Snider
The winners will play at 7 p.m. CT. Lake Central is the last team of the group to win the state title, doing so in 2024.
South (Castle; at Braun Stadium, University of Evansville)
Game 1 (10 a.m. CT): No. 3 Evansville North vs. No. 1 Center Grove
Game 2 (1 p.m. CT): No. 10 Bloomington South vs. North Central
The winners will play at 7 p.m. CT. Evansville North made it to state last season, losing to Valparaiso. Center Grove made it to state in 2023, losing to Penn.
Class 3A
North (LaPorte, at Schreiber Field)
Game 1 (10:30 a.m. CT): NorthWood vs. Norwell
Game 2 (12:30 p.m. CT): No. 1 Andrean vs. No. 5 DeKalb
The winners will play at 7 p.m. CT. Andrean won the 3A state title last season, and has won nine state championships.
South (Jasper, at Ruxer Field)
Game 1 (11 a.m. ET): Providence vs. No. 2 Guerin Catholic
Game 2 (2 p.m. ET): No. 4 Gibson Southern vs. No. 8 Cathedral
The winners will play at 8 p.m. ET. Providence is the last team of the group to make the state championship, winning the 2A state title in 2024.
Class 2A
North (Oak Hill)
Game 1 (11 a.m. ET): Lafayette Central Catholic vs. Bluffton
Game 2 (2 p.m. ET): No. 2 Eastbrook vs. Lakeland
The winners will play at 8 p.m. ET. Lafayette Central Catholic made the 1A state championship in 2024, losing to Barr-Reeve.
South (Lawrence Central)
Game 1 (11 a.m. ET): No. 9 University vs. No. 1 Evansville Mater Dei
Game 2 (2 p.m. ET): Heritage Christian vs. Sullivan
The winners will play at 8 p.m. Evansville Mater Dei made it to state last year, losing to Boone Grove.
Class 1A
North (Lafayette Jefferson, at Loeb Stadium)
Game 1 (11 a.m. ET): Fort Wayne Blackhawk Christian vs. North Miami
Game 2 (2 p.m. ET): No. 10 Rossville vs. No. 1 Kouts
The winners will play at 7:30 p.m. ET. Kouts made it to state last year, losing to Lutheran.
South (Mitchell)
Game 1 (11 a.m. ET): Hauser vs. North Daviess
Game 2 (1 p.m. ET): Greenwood Christian vs. No. 4 Northeast Dubois
The winners will play at 7 p.m. ET. Hauser is the last team of the group to make it to state, back in 2005, when it lost to Fort Wayne Blackhawk Christian.
INDIANA (WANE) — Thousands of customers for multiple power companies in northeast Indiana are without power as a result of severe storms.
As several counties experienced tornado watches and warnings, severe storms rampaging through communities also knocked out power. As of 11:30 Thursday night, approximately 7,000 customers have reported outages across three different power companies.
According to the Indiana Michigan Power outage map, over 2,000 households are without power in Allen and Grant Counties.
On Duke Energy’s outage map, nearly 2,000 people do not have power in Huntington County, and over 24,000 people do not have power in the entire state of Indiana.
Northeast REMC’s outage map shows that over 3,000 people do not have power in its entire service area.
It’s unclear when these power companies will restore power to customers.
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Strong to severe storms tonight will be followed by 2 days of really nice weather.
THURSDAY EVENING/NIGHT:
A line of strong to severe storms will move across Central Indiana sometime between 10 PM and 2 AM. The main severe threat looks to be damaging wind gusts (much like the last few days) but we’ll continue to monitor for a quick spin-up and a little hail. Heavy rain may lead to some areas of flooding once again. Temperatures by sunrise Friday in the wake of the rain should be mainly in the 60s.
FRIDAY:
A very nice summer day is on tap with highs in upper 70s to lower 80s, much lower humidity levels, and lots of sunshine. Outdoor and evening activities look good to go!
FRIDAY NIGHT:
Clear, quiet, and comfortable conditions are on track. Look for lows mainly in the lower 60s.
SATURDAY:
Partly cloudy and warm. Afternoon highs will climb back into the mid 80s. Lows in the mid 60s are likely Saturday night.
SUNDAY:
Partly to mostly cloudy. Scattered showers & storms are likely with a passing cold front but severe weather appears unlikely. Much cooler highs mainly in the 70s.
NEXT WEEK:
Cooler than average conditions are likely for at least for the first half of the week. Highs in the mid to upper 70s remain on track for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Low will be in the 50s for a change. Dry weather should hold for Monday but a small rain chance returns Tuesday. More scattered rain & storms may develop by Wednesday afternoon & evening with a stronger storm system moving through the region.
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